Lara, Sarwan back in contention for Super Series

London:High quality centuries from Brian Lara and Ramnaresh Sarwan on their return to the West Indian team against South Africa in Trinidad, have reinforced their case for inclusion in the Johnnie Walker International Cricket Council (ICC) Super Series squads of 30 Test and ODI players to be announced next month.

Former West Indies captain and Johnnie Walker selector Clive Lloyd said that the return of the pair, along with opening batsman Chris Gayle and young all-rounder Dwayne Bravo allowed the selectors to choose from the widest array of talent outside Australia.

"As a selection panel it's important to be able to pick from the best players in the game, so it's good to see the West Indies resolving their contractual issues and allowing all players to be available for the national team.

"Lara and Sarwan took the chance to impress, but for South Africa I thought the efforts of Makhaya Ntini in taking 13 wickets in the match were outstanding and Graeme Smith's century and astute captaincy were also top class. Add in the names of Chanderpaul, Hinds and Kallis from the first Test, and you can see how difficult the selectors' task will be," Lloyd was quoted as saying in an ICC release.

Elsewhere, the recently concluded Test series between New Zealand and Sri Lanka has provided the selectors -- Sir Richard Hadlee and Aravinda de Silva -- with some impressive performances to consider.

"One of the features for me was the way in which some of the younger players or those who had been struggling for a while turned in some strong performances in the series," said Hadlee.